The Ramayana traditions of South India and Southeast Asia are examined at multiple levels in this volume. The research presented here offers in-depth investigations of chosen moments in the development of the epic tradition together with broader trends that help in understanding the epic?s multivalence. The journey and localization of the R?m?ya?a is explored in its manifold expressions ? from classical to folk, from temples and palaces to theatres and by-lanes in cities and villages, and from ancient to modern times. Regional R?m?ya?as from different parts of South India and Southeast Asia are placed in deliberate juxtaposition to enable a historically informed discussion of their connected pasts across land and seas. The three parts of this volume, organized as visual, literary, and performance cultures, discuss the sculpted, painted, inscribed, written, recited, and performed Ramayanas. A related emphasis is on the way boundaries of medium and genre have been crossed in the visual, literary, and performed representations of the R?m?ya?a.These are rewarding directions of research that have thus far received little attention. Bringing together 19 well-known scholars in Ramayana studies from Cambodia, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, UK, and USA, this thought-provoking and elegantly illustrated volume engages with the inherent plurality, diversity, and adaptability of the R?m?ya?a in changing socio-political, religious, and cultural contexts and with shifting norms, tastes, traditions, and ideologies.

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In Administrative and Social History of Mysore Under the Wodeyars (1600-1800 CE), Prof D S Achuta Rao presents an engaging account of the period. Believed to be the lineal descendants of the Vijayanagara, the kings of Mysore were described as ruling the earth seated on the jeweled throne of Karnataka. Tracing the earliest descent of Raja Wodeyar, the first remarkable ruler of the dynasty till the mid-1900, the book vividly draws before us a portrait of the political, military, law, social, religious, education, art and culture, and administrative construct of two centuries of the Wodeyar rule in Mysore. Capturing the significant features of the governance of the day, the book is a detailed and masterful telling of this phase in the history of Mysore, Karnataka, India. Scholarly and impressive, the book is a formidable achievement in terms of coverage and content.